A Rose for Her
by Apelles
Summary: On the last day of school, Peter finds a rose which he is determind to give to Mary Jane. But, as the day ends, will he find the courage to do what he set out to?


Disclaimer: Same as always.  
  
Author's note: This story is about the last day of school. Peter and co.'s ages are for you to decide, though it would need to be after seventh grade and before their senior year. I have tried hard to follow the movie mostly, but a few of you might find clues that follow the comic as well. Please review at the end.  
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Peter pushed the brim of his glasses to the top of his nose for the fourth time this class. He glanced toward the clock and saw there were only a few minutes before the bell rang. Hunching forward, Peter attempted to write down more notes and, having failed as his glasses slid down his nose again, took them off.  
Squinting in one eye, Peter could see he was as blind as a bat. His right eye was slightly better then the left, so for the remained of the class, Peter shut one eye, then the other.  
  
"Bbbrrrrinnggg!!"  
  
Shouts and cheers of happiness filled the halls as students ran for open doors for the first day of summer. Peter stumbled by his locker and waited obediently as the other kids ruffled through their own lockers before allowing Peter room so he could get to his.  
  
"Man, I can't wait till my family goes on that boat trip!"  
  
"Yea? Well, I'm gonna go to Europe!"  
  
"...hanging out with friends is all I'm planning to do..."  
  
Peter listened in on the conversations as he moved his lips apart to get the gum-like substance off them. A strange feeling settled in his stomach. Peter instantly recognized it. It was a slight feeling of jealousy and pity. As the kids started moving apart, Peter began to wonder about his summer vacation. He knew it was not going to be something glamorous and wonderful as going on a boat trip, or to Europe, or even to hang out with friends. Aunt May and Uncle Ben were planning to fix up the house, and going on a trip was not part of the agenda. If he was lucky, Aunt May would allow him to the house a bit more then last summer alone, maybe even to downtown Manhattan.  
  
"Move it, Sevie." An extremely large football player growled to him. Peter opened his mouth but shut it instantly. ' A Sevie! I am NOT a seventh grader!' he mind was shouting. As soon as the football playing stomped out of the way, Peter could finally get to his locker.  
  
"Hey, Pete." Peter snapped his head around to face a short, large eyed boy with red hair and freckles. He groaned softly.  
  
"...um, hi...Robert," said Peter as he got out the remaining supplies out of his locker.  
  
Robert was a year younger then Peter who followed him around when possible. Since Peter had no friends, he considered this kid to be a blessing at first. After a month, though, Peter began to realize this kid was truly annoying who loved to brag about everything under the sun. Peter found out not much later that Robert had lots of friends, but he was the only one who could stand to be in the same room with Robert for more then an hour.  
  
"...Rob, Pete, my name is Rob. Why do ya always have'ta call me by my full name?" Robert was saying.  
  
"um, sorry..." mumbled Peter as he threw his backpack over his shoulder. "So,...er....what are you doing over the summer?"  
  
"Oh, I get to go the California, to hang out in Hollywood. My uncle is an agent there 'n' he has this huge mansion. Plus I get lots of money, my own go-cart,  
and..."  
  
Peter toned out Robert's voice as he walked quickly to the front doors. The sunlight blinded the kids as they stepped out in front of the school.  
  
That is when he saw her. Mary Jane Watson. She glided gracefully around on the sidewalk with the rest of her friends tailing behind her. Her red hair reached past her slim shoulders and flipped outward. MJ would turn around and smile, showing how her top teeth rested on her lower lip. Then she would tilt her head back slightly, chin up, and laugh. Peter felt a lump in his throat.  
  
"HO! Pete!! Anybody in there?!?" Robert tapped Peter's head with his finger.  
  
"huh?"  
  
" I said, is anybody there?" repeated Robert.  
  
Peter took one last glance at MJ and then looked at Albert. "Sorry, spaced out..."  
  
"Whatever." Robert waved his hand in front of Peter's face. " What are you doing this summer?"  
  
" I am...um...I am," Peter stopped and thought. "I am going away. To my...er...uncle." he lied.  
  
"Your uncle? I thought you lived with your uncle."  
  
Peter's mind raced. "I do. I...um, have another uncle. He lives in...in..." Peter paused while he thought of a place. Robert eyes seemed to be burning a whole through him. "Alaska."  
  
Peter smirked with satisfaction when he saw how Robert's eyes widened at his lie. "Wow! Alaska! I've never been there!" said Robert. Then he quickly started to name off all the places he had visited. 'I keep diggin' myself deeper' Peter thought. After a few minutes of boring conversation, Peter hastily excused himself in order to get away from Robert. He jogged back into the school and walked along the hallway. Large posters and banners lined the halls, congratulating the senior class on completing their high school. The janitor had already started to mop the dirt from the floor with a rag that looked like it had never been cleaned. Peter slowed down his pace, once he knew for sure that Robert was not following him. As he neared the corner of one of the halls, voices rose.  
  
Peter peered around the corner, praying not to run into any more upperclassmen.  
  
Mary Jane was standing there, along with Flash Thomson and many other popular kids. Peter felt the corners of his mouth lift into a smile when he saw MJ. Not wanting to be noticed, he did not move from the corner of the hall, and listened in. "....so, MJ. Where did you say you were going?" a voice rose up. 'Emma Nelson' Peter thought.  
  
MJ's answer came almost instantly. "Oh, I am headed to downtown to stay with my aunt for a week." Peter stared at her face. She bit her lower lip slightly when she finished, her eyes widened for a second, then she smiled nervously.  
  
'She is lying.' Peter thought. He was surprised at his thought. How did he know if MJ was lying or not? 'I just know.' he answered himself. ' She was showing it in her face.' Peter thought about this. He shook his head. It was insane, he knew, that he thought he could read her, like an open book. Peter turned around and began walking toward the fronts doors again. Once outside under the hot sun, Peter saw a familiar run down car with an old man sitting at the wheel. For the second time that day, Peter smiled. As he walked along, a bright color caught his eye. A large red rose was in the bushes next to the door. MJ's red hair flashed in his mind. Without thinking, he went over to the bush and picked the flower. 'Maybe I could give this to her.' he thought. 'Its kinda pretty...' A loud honk caused Peter to look up. The old man in the car was grinning. Peter held the flower tight in his hand and ran over to the car.  
  
"Hi, Uncle Ben."  
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Mary Jane looked over to Flash. His short black hair was standing up on his head. MJ quickly averted her eyes. She did think he was cute. He had that personality that everyone is attracted to. Flash was the kind of person who could be rude to the teachers and get away with it. He had that cockiness that said he could do anything he wanted. The kind that people loved and hated at the same time.  
  
Flash caught her eye and winked in return. Her happiness swelled. The day was going perfect. The sun was out, summer was waiting, and Flash just winked.  
At her! Most of all, everyone believed her when she said she was going away for the week. MJ thought about her last day. The lie about her going to New York city was never planned. But after hearing all of her friends' plans, and the constant questions, MJ just slipped the fact her aunt lived in downtown Manhattan. It just ballooned from there.  
  
The old yellow school bus drove from the street to the curve by the front doors of the school. MJ's happiness seemed to disappear rapidly as the bus approached. Now she had to face a week with her family. The thought made Mary Jane shudder.  
  
"Hey, MJ, you ok?" MJ snapped back to reality. 'Come on, MJ, say everything is fine.' she thought. She put on another grin and laughed.  
  
"I'm fine, Emma. Why? You worried about me?". 'That's good, MJ, just keep smiling', she thought.  
  
Emma's brow crossed for a split second before she broke into a smile, showing all her braces. "Ah, nothing." Laughing and giggling, MJ boarded the bus.  
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Peter closed his bedroom door behind him. The clock above his desk blinked 10:37 in neon numbers. He smiled as he threw himself down on his bed. The remainder of the day was a lot more fun then the first part. After school, Harry had come by in the limo, still dressed in his latest school uniform. With a quick reassurance to Peter's aunt and uncle, they drove to the mansion and to the movies, spending a good amount of 30 dollars Harry got from his father. After spending the day with Harry, Peter's summer did not look so bad. In fact, Peter thought, this may even be fun. Yet Harry would be leaving for a few weeks, ( "Dad needs to go to the research center in some dumb old' town in Montana." Harry said before opening a can of coke.) and being alone with no friends was not what Peter had in mind. It was not as though the idea of no friends for the summer hadn't occurred to him, but it still hurt to think about it.  
  
Peter sighed. He laid his head down on his pillow and looked to his bedside table. The red rose was on top of some books, its pedals still slightly closed. He sat up and took the flower in his hands, cradling it softly. He would give it to her, he assured himself, and stood up to open the door. Flower in hands, Peter stomped down the stairs, two at a time.  
  
"Peter," Aunt May's voice called from the TV room. " Is that you making all that racket?"  
  
"Sorry" he answered back. Aunt May walked slowly to the bottom of the stairs.  
  
"be a dear and take out the trash. I'm going to bed," she said, kissed him on the cheek and walked slowly up the stairs.  
  
Peter resisted to groan and grabbed the black plastic bag as he opened the back door. The sound of sniffling caused him to stop. Glancing to his left, Peter saw Mary Jane, sitting on the stone steps. Her knees were by her chest and her head was bent over them, hair falling out of place. One look at her told him that she was, or at least had been, crying. Mary Jane quickly looked up, acting as if nothing was wrong, yet Peter was able to see the tissue she had in her hand before she put it in her pocket.  
  
A mix of nervousness, worry, and confusion swam over Peter. Not know what to do to help, Peter quickly hopped to the garbage can and hurried back to the safety of the back door step.  
  
"Hi Pete."  
  
He froze. Looking over his shoulder, Peter saw MJ had stood up and was looking at him waiting an answer. He looked at his hands out of habit, and with horror realized he still carried the rose he had picked. For her. In one quick, and hopefully unnoticeable, motion, Peter turned around and faced her, swinging the hand that had the flower behind him, out of view.  
  
She looked at him with a puzzled expression. "Hi, Pete." she repeated louder.  
  
Peter felt as though his mouth and brain were working separately. "Hi Mary Jane" he finally said. She grinned.  
  
"So..." she walked to the low fence between their backyards, "whatcha' up to this summer?"  
  
"um...nothing really." he said. Her eyebrows raised slightly. " You know,...just helping Aunt May and Uncle Bill..." his voice trailed off. She bobbed her head in understanding. "What about you?" asked Peter, pushing his glasses back up to the top of his nose.  
  
"Me? I'm..." MJ paused. She cocked her head to the side and looked at him. Her green eyes seemed to glaze over him, a softness behind them. She then shook her head side to side as if she wanted to get an idea out of her head. "...I am staying here...all summer long. No big fancy trips or anything."  
  
Peter was stunned. He had clearly hear that she had said to her friends that she was going to go visit her aunt. A small feeling of happiness emerge in the pit of his stomach. 'She told me the truth....Me, of all people' he thought. An awkward silence settled, the distant sound of cars taking over. Thinking the conversation was over, he put his free hand on the doorknob, making sure the hand with the flower was still out of view.  
  
"hey Pete?"  
  
Her words stopped in his motions. "Yea?"  
  
"Ever think about contacts?"  
  
Peter was surprised by her question and blushed a crimson red. He took his hand off the doorknob, up to the brim of his glasses, and took them off. He squinted at MJ, her outline extremely fuzzy. "...er...not really. I don't think Aunt May would really allow me, anyways,...you know. With me forgetting stuff."  
  
"Relax your eyes." He did what he was told. He could hardly make her out in the dim light. Her face was a blotch of peach-ish color with two green dots where her eyes were, and her lips were a light pink. After a few seconds, he slide his glasses back to the top of his nose.  
  
"I think you should try them. Contacts, I mean" She said softly. They both stood there silently again for the next minute, before MJ walked over to her backdoor and, with one last nod to Peter, walked in before he could mumble "good night".  
  
Peter stood there, wondering if he had helped at all. He put his arm back around him in front, and looked at the flower. There was still tiny drops of water on the red pedals. He sighed in anger and defeat. He had plenty of time when he could have given her the flower, and he didn't. The rose seemed to look at him with shame.  
  
" Me and my stupid, nervous self." he said aloud and crushed the flower in his hand before he threw it toward the trash cans. Peter walked in the house, not looking back to see where the flower landed.  
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Mary Jane watched from behind the kitchen window to see if Peter had gone in or not. She hoped no one had noticed her come in the house again. This was the one place MJ did not want to be in right now. A loud snore made her jump. She tip toed into the TV. room where she thought the sound had come from. Looking past the glare of a TV. Mary Jane saw she was right.  
  
Her father sat in the huge gray armchair, sleeping. He wore a stained t-shirt with the sleeves cut off. His beer belly seemed to spill out of the bottom of the shirt and covered the top button on his jeans; stinky socks half on, half off on his small feet. His unshaven face was lying on his shoulder, the double chin wobbling when he took a breath in. In the hand that was lying limp at his side was the bottle of an empty beer.  
  
MJ looked at him with a feeling of loathing and contempt. 'This is the way it should be' she thought. 'You should be asleep, and not yelling and cursing at mom and I,' with one last look around the room, she crossed over to the kitchen and slipped out the back door.  
  
Peter was gone. Mary Jane thanked god. He was one of the last people she ever wanted to see her crying. She sat down on the stone steps looking up at the dark violet sky. No stars could be see, at least not where she was. The street lamp poured a yellow light onto the concrete.  
  
She smiled as she thought back on her conversation with Peter. He was a sweet boy, she thought. It was funny how he came out of his house and jumped to the trash can and back, then how he seemed to struggle with his words when she said hi.  
  
Peter was a quiet person. MJ never saw him with any friends, expect a small red headed boy, but she suspected that was a one sided friendship. He acts the way he does in school the same way he did tonight, talking to her. He had a kind of hangdog look, one that made her pity him a tiny bit. She remember the first time she found out if had no parents. "Why not?" she had asked. "They're dead." her aunt said simply. Ever since then, Mary Jane saw something no one else seemed to. Peter was sad. On the outside, he seemed happy enough, ...yet on the inside, he seemed to be crying, still getting the death of his parents. She found it cruel, the way fate dealt Peter a rotten hand, and pitied him.  
  
Tonight though, when he asked what she was going to be doing this summer, she caught his eyes. They were blue. They had this intense look in them, the blue shinning. Right then, she thought that he saw her, the real her, the one that one has ever truly seen. Ever since her father hit her sister, she hid herself from people, and tonight...for some odd reason, she felt that she did not have to hide herself from him. So she told him the truth about what she was going to be doing this summer. Right after the words came out of her mouth, she looked at him and he seemed to be... happy.  
  
It was because of the look his eyes that he gave her that made her ask about contacts. When he took off his glasses, Mary Jane found out something astonishing. He was cute. Not anything like Flash was, for Flash was the best looking guy MJ had ever seen in the school. But Peter had that mature charm about him. It was funny, because there was nothing about the way he stood that made him charming. When he was standing still, he had one arm behind him while the other was nervously in his pocket. His shoulders slouched and he hung his head low. He was not tall, MJ doubted wither he ever would be, but he was just an inch or so above her. His brown hair flopped slightly below his eyebrows, he had a thin, boyish looking face, one that made you trust him the movement you meant him. MJ was so surprised that he was cute, because she had never seen him without his huge glasses which took up the majority of his face.  
  
Yet the one thing that MJ found to be charming was his bright blue eyes. The eyes that seemed to look into you, into your soul.  
Mary Jane shook her head. It was silly, she thought, that he could 'see' into her. What a stupid idea. MJ thought about her day again. The one thing that truly stood out was Flash's wink. Just the thought of it made her smile. She stood out there, listening to the night's noises, for awhile. By the time it was starting to get chilly, MJ stood up slowly. As she turned around, something red was in the corner of her eye. She turned around and saw a rose, one that had no been there earlier. It was on the ground by the trashcans. She glided over and picked up the flower. The rose's bright red pedals were closed, and small drops of water were on them. It was a pretty flower, which made her wonder why it was by the trash. She took the flower inside and put it in a cup of water, which she put on her bedside table.  
  
As she pulled the thin covers over her, she imagined Flash had picked the flower, just for her. "The rose reminded me of you" he would say, to which she would reply with a " thank you". He would then smile, showing all his white teeth.  
  
' That's it. The flower was for me. Picked by Flash.' she thought, and drifted off to sleep, a smile on her lips.  
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Author's note: I am happy with this story that looks a bit into the past, how Mary Jane and Peter talked to each other, and such. I have tried to keep Peter and MJ as true to the movie and comic as possible. Please review. Constructive criticism welcomed; flames not.  
  
Author's note 2: In case any is wondering, I doubt I will be writing another chapter to this story. If I get a lot of reviews asking me to, I will put it into consideration. Thank you. 


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